Wow Cory, I expected more from you. You plead jet lag meaning you did not do the background research, or you knew this but just forgot? I say former…. I hold you in very high esteem, please don’t let me down.

Cellophane is definitely a wood product. There was obviously a big technological jump in the 20s or then abouts because we suddenly got Kleenex, cellophane and tampons. They are all made from the same basic process as paper, but with variations in processing and which pulp products were used.

Wow Cory, I expected more from you. You plead jet lag meaning you did not do the background research, or you knew this but just forgot? I say former…. I hold you in very high esteem, please don’t let me down.

Yeah, you adults just enjoy your tray of chips. I have the whole bag and they are mine! Mine, I tell you. And Sparky? He didn’t run off. He’s in a pit with seven other neighborhood dogs and Sis is getting a bit uppity. You should have included me in your soirees, because I have figured out a novel secondary usage for this cellophane bag. After I have finished the chips, of course.

It is wild how new materials (especially plastics) do come to completely dominate packaging, to the point that no one remembers how it used to be.

When I was a kid and had just learned how comparatively recent plastic was, I was completely baffled by the idea of a non-plastic toothbrush. What the hell did they use? Wood? Ceramic? Finally I asked my mom (who is old enough to predate plastic) and she supplied the answer. They were made of hard rubber.

I remember cellophane bags, and am wondering when exactly they stopped being used (was it the 80’s?). And I still miss the waxed paper bags that cereal came in, since the plastic they use now doesn’t roll up as well (to keep the cereal fresher).

Burning a piece of a wrapper is how you can tell cellophane from plastic. Plastic will melt and wither away from a flame. Cellophane will burn like, well, cellophane. Blow the flame out and smell the smoke, smells like burning cotton.

We used to have Charles’ Chips delivered in tin canisters when I was a kid. Definitely better in tin than cellophane.

We had those too, and crackers and such.
I’m more upset at the loss of glass in packaging in favor of plastics. Jars of mayo, (some) pickles, ketchup, mustard, are almost always plastic now.
I still have a 60’s tin that saltine crackers came in..and use that to store crackers. Airtight and still works nicely after decades of use.

It’s weird the things we forget were once new and revolutionary. When I look back at old Popular Mechanics magazines from the 1930s they extol the amazing electric toasters and can openers, reflectors on bicycles pedals that will save lives and shoes with rubber soles.

I know this is all yuk yuks and whatnot but you will be seeing ads for cellophane much like this one in the near future.

It can be composted at home (though it takes a while). I wouldn’t be surprised, what with California’s proposed ban on plastic bags, to see many plastic products go back to cellophane. And I would support that!

Cellophane?
Why, even way back in 1934, Cole Porter knew that cellophane was “the top”!
See at 1:36 in this vid of Porter singing “You’re The Top” – and check out the cellophane clothing those old-time models are wearing (as the chips bag says in the foto above – “Cellophane lets you see!”:)

This kid probably remembered that, and grew up to invent the new Sun Chips biodegradable bags, which appear to be made of equal parts cellophane, thunder, microphone feedback, dental drill, and smoke alarm.

Man, you can’t even look at one of those bags without waking the neighbors.